RIAFP Policy
Brief: 10/4/00
Increasing the Number of Family Physicians in Rhode
Island
Family physicians
are an integral part of effective, affordable health care systems
all around the world. Increasing the number of family physicians practicing
in Rhode Island is one way to improve the stability and effectiveness
of our health care system.
Other states
employ three strategies to increase the number of their physicians
who are family physicians: direct funding of Graduate Medical Education
in Family Practice, Scholarship Programs that require recipients to
practice in their states, and funding of Area Health Education Programs
(AHEC)
Many states fund
medical school Departments of Family Medicine directly, providing
them with annual grants or capitated payments based on the number
of residents in training. Departments of Family Medicine use the funding
they receive to start residency programs in Family Medicine at community
hospitals, to start teaching programs in areas lacking family practices,
and for research in family medicine.
Residency programs
in Family Medicine at community hospitals, and teaching practices,
are ideal incubators for family physicians, bringing family physicians
to an area and involving those young physicians in the life of the
communities where they train. Many young physicians stay near their
residency programs.
Some states have
created scholarship programs, similar to the National Health Services
Corps, that defray some of the costs of medical education in exchange
for an agreement to provide a certain number of years of service in
an area of the state under-served for family practice once the medical
student who received a scholarship has completed her or his training.
Most states have
joined with the federal government to fund a Area Health Education
Center, an organization that trains health professional students of
all disciplines (medicine, nursing, pharmacy, and mental health) in
the culturally competent care of people who are under-served for health
care because of geography, culture, income, language, or physical
disability. (Rhode Island is one of eight states in the union that
does not have or is not involved in an AHEC).
We can help Rhode
Island transition from a turbulent, high-cost, technology driven health
care system to a health care system that is secure, stable, rational,
personal and just by using these three strategies to increase the
number of family physicians practicing in our state.
This is one
in a series of reports designed to advance Family Practice and primary
care in Rhode Island's health care system, as well as to discuss public
health issues of importance to all Rhode Islanders.
We welcome
the opportunity to further discuss the issues presented here. We can
be reached by phone at 401-453-4176, or by email at info@riafp.org.
10/4/00
